Revitalised Rotterdam Blokker Building Kraaijvanger • Urbis nominated for Rotterdam Architecture Award 2010
The Blokker building at the Hoogstraat in Rotterdam, designed in the 50-ies by Herman and Evert Kraaijvanger and renovated by Kraaijvanger • Urbis is nominated for the Rotterdam Architecture Award 2010.
After 50 years the Blokker building needed a thorough renovation. The interior no longer met contemporary requirements and was modernized to provide a building that is effective as a retail space. The exterior was renovated, during which the original transparency and fresh appearance of the municipal monument was restored.
Floating sustainable living by Vincent van der Meulen awarded for most sustainable home in the Netherlands.
Wednesday December 15th, the Natuhome Award was presented at the Assemburg Castle in Heemskerk (The Netherlands). From the many submissions the jury chose the floating house of Team 4D as the most sustainable home in the Netherlands. Team 4D consists of Kraaijvanger • Urbis, DGMR, Giesbers & Van der Graaf bv and ITHO.
The floating home has two types of facades: a shell that protects against the sun and a conservatory that opens up towards the sun. This way warmth can be absorbed, or kept outside. By rotating the house according to the seasons the heat load can be reduced by 40% and the cooling load by 90%. Activities that require heating are situated upstairs; those that thrive in cool downstairs, thus the house makes use of naturally rising warm air.
All functional spaces and technical installations are placed in the core of the house. The sustainable techniques applied are no-nonsense, self-evident and communicative in order to promote and stimulate a sustainable life style. 63 % of the weight of the construction material consists of C2C-certified materials; 28% of fully recyclable materials. The floating home is a remarkable house designed around experiencing water. The (vertical) gardens of the house contribute to a cleaner surrounding. The house produces energy to recharge an electrical car. It's open to new developments and above all, a fantastic house to live in.
Arte College honoured with the Almere public award
The Arte College was chosen by the public as the most beautiful building in Almere. The design by Hans Goverde was presented with the biennial Almere architecture award. In her speech, the Principal of the Arte College emphasised the nature of the school’s collaboration with Kraaijvanger • Urbis, which among other things took the educational concept as a starting point for its deliberations.
The Arte College is a secondary school for 850 students in Eurokwartier, a new neighbourhood In Almere. Theatre is the connecting theme of the school programme. The heart of the school is formed by a centrally located assembly hall, which doubles as a theatre. Slender columns support the projecting roof, which overhangs the glass entrance hall. In front of this entrance, one finds the newly designed city square with a recessed bicycle shed and an outdoor stand for theatrical performances.
Arte College is part of the public comprehensive school De Meergronden.
Bart van der Werf
Joost Esschendal
The renovation of Provinciehuis Noord Holland has been awarded an UKP NESK certificate!
The project has been earmarked by the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM), WWI (Wonen, Wijken en Integratie; Living, Neighbourhoods and Integration), as an example project for offices with regard to energy and climate.
A total of 6.5 million euros has been made available in subsidies for extremely energy efficient practical projects through the UPK NESK (Unieke Kansen Programma Naar Energieneutrale Scholen en Kantoren; Unique Opportunity Programme to Obtain Energy-neutral Schools and Offices).
The Ministry of VROM wishes to stimulate the sector with this tender with regard to the turnaround towards energy-neutral building.
The EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) of the Houtplein provincial government office building in Haarlem will show a reduction from 1.7 to 0.5 due to significant renovation work. This is possible through an integral approach by architect Kraaijvanger •
Urbis, consultants and a design team. The project, for example, includes triple glazing, thermal storage,
a low-temperature heating system/high-temperature cooling system and a green roof and walls and it uses rainwater.
Kraaijvanger • Urbis receives honourable mention in German competition
Kraaijvanger • Urbis has made a design for the expansion of the existing, Late Baroque Kleist Museum in Frankfurt an der Oder, an urban district on the German-Polish border. During the Second World War, Frankfurt an der Oder was virtually razed to the ground by bombs, and the town was subsequently divided along the Oder-Neisse line, so that part of it became Polish territory. While the city has founded a new university following reunification, it is nevertheless confronted with a declining population.
Kleist was a writer working in the 18th and 19th century – a key figure in the transition from the Enlightenment to Romanticism, and furthermore the pride of the city.
Using a clear, well-nigh floating volume, our architectonic design for the expansion strives to achieve a balance between old and new, underground and above-ground, transparency and protection (vulnerable papers and printed matter), with the vista of the garden (and the Oder River) serving as a distinguishing feature in terms of this public building’s position in the public space.
Next to an architectonic design, the firm was also asked to formulate an urbanistic vision and draw up a design for the public space surrounding the museum. Our urbanistic vision focuses on the improvement of the city centre’s spatial structure; the design for the public space is an elaboration of this vision. In this process, Kraaijvanger • Urbis worked together with the Berlin-based landscape firm Bernard Sattler.
Kraaijvanger • Urbis receives honourable mention in the 'Neues Kunstarchiv Beeskow' competition
Kraaijvanger Urbis has received an honourable mention in the competition surrounding the design of an art depot with an exhibition area in Beeskow, Germany.
The Beeskow Art Archive (80 km east of Berlin) comprises two collections: 23,000 works of art that are originally from legacies from the former GDR and 14,000 subsidised works from the Berlin art lending library.
The intended new construction will be situated in a monumental 13th-century castle located on an island in the Spree River. The design will be accommodated in the section of the fortress that was destroyed by the Russians during the capture of Beeskow in 1945.
The basic principle that was decided on for the design was to divide it into two volumes. The first volume is an abstract reconstruction of the former brewery. In this approach, it was decided to integrate the existing fortress wall by literally building further on its remains. The second volume, the new construction, is consciously kept free of the wall. As a result, the volume is optically reduced on the eastern side.
Both sections consist of masonry. In the case of the former brewery, it was decided to use pure stone, a material that is extended to the roof itself. In the case of the new construction, the masonry is covered with a light grey silicate mineral paint. This choice of materials results in a subtle difference between the two sections, which nevertheless combine with the glass interconnection to form a harmonious whole.
Kraaijvanger • Urbis genomineerd voor internationale "Design is... award"
Kraaijvanger • Urbis is one of the twelve nominees for the 2010 Design Is... Award with its interior project Univé/VGZ/IZA/Trias Arnhem.
Design transcends simple aesthetics. Design means excelling at what you do. Design stands for vision and skill. Design is integration and innovation. The Design Is… Award believes in a broad definition of design. Projects that explore the very limits of their discipline, that make a statement, that renew the old and embrace the new.
'Young Talent', Vincent van der Meulen (28), wins the competition for a ‘Sustainable Selfsufficient Floating Home’ with team 4D.
This multidisplinairy team consists of Kraaijvanger•Urbis, Dura Vermeer, DGMR, Giesbers & Van Der Graaf b.v. and ITHO.
This competition is the perfect means to end the aura of dreaminess, of idealism and positivism surrounding cradle-to-cradle and sustainaiblity. Once and forall we lay waste the claims that sustainabilty and cradle-to-cradle could never lead to any concrete, precise or tangeble results.
The goal of this great team of architects, builders, constructional physici, installers and costexperts was to create a remarkable and feasable floating home. The result, a fantastic home that literally floats on the qualities of living on water. A house that does not polute it’s environment, instead cleans it and collects enough energy in the summer to power it through the winter. Moreover a house that’s open to new technological and environmental developments. No rosy assumptions but smart and integral designing.
Vincent van der Meulen
'Young Talent', Kraaijvanger • Urbis’s Annemiek Bleumink (30) and Donald Osborne win the Ringstede Bicycle Shed design competition
The Municipality of Nieuwegein has organised a competition for the design of the Ringstede Bicycle Shed. The assignment involved submitting a draft design for a permanent bicycle storage facility that contributes to an attractive entrance for the adjoining shopping area. The competition was held to provide young architects with an opportunity to realise their proposal. The proposal drawn up by Annemiek Bleumink in collaboration with Donald Osborne was one of the nominated designs.
The jury preferred their design to those of the nine other architects who were selected within the competition. Each of these architects was expected to make an inspiring and feasible proposal for an attractive bicycle shed along Ringstede.
Kraaijvanger • Urbis wins 'World Sustainability Centre Afsluitdijk competition
Kraaijvanger • Urbis winning entree 'Changing Perspectives'was chosen out of more then 80 international entrees. The public ideas competition for the World Sustainability Centre was issued by the Sustaiinability Centre Foundation.
The main concept of the entree is based upon a flexible system of five floating pontoons interconnected by floating jetties. The whole structure can navigate to different locations and be deployed in a variety of configurations. The complex can be pass the exitsting locks so it can choose its surroundings on either side of the dam. Configuration, surroundings and exposition will amplify each other in their meaning in this scheme.
World Sustainability Centre Afsluitdijk
Nomination Dirk Jan Postel's 'Willow Wall'
Dirk Jan Postel is met zijn inzending Willow Wall genomineerd voor de ideeënprijsvraag "In de kiem gescoord, Groen beton".
De winnaar zal bekend worden gemaakt tijdens de Betondag 2009 op donderdag 19 november om 15.00 uur in de Juriaansezaal van de Doelen in Rotterdam.
Groen Beton Ideeën Prijsvraag 2009